It’s nice to see the grand old dude of rock and roll being interviewed by someone who knows a bit about rock and roll, writer Anthony DeCurtis.

Even though we’ve been deluged with Keith-related media since the publication of his memoirs, this relaxed interview goes deeper than most. I love Keith’s comments about women, brief but quite loving.

The discussion took place at The New York Public Library on October 29, 2010.
 

 
Parts two thru four after the jump…

 
Nonprofit civil rights watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center has created a “Hate Map” to show where organized hate groups are established/thriving across America. It may seen disheartening at first glance, but keep in mind that many hate “groups” are in reality just crazed loners with a website or idiot couples who love & hate together.

This list was compiled using hate group publications and websites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports.

Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing. Websites appearing to be merely the work of a single individual, rather than the publication of a group, are not included in this list. Listing here does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity.

Go here to find out what haters are living in your state.

(via reddit)

 
On June 15, 1964 The Beatles flew into Melbourne, Australia to play a couple of shows at Festival Hall. A huge crowd of over 30,000 fans were there to greet them. At one point, the group sought shelter on the upper floors of Town Hall where they waved and goofed around from a balcony for the fans below. Spoofing their own fame, power and the hysteria of their fans, John gave the throng a Nazi salute while mimicking Hitler by placing his finger over his upper lip as though it were a mustache.

On the balcony with John are Paul, George, Ringo and Ringo’s substitute drummer Jimmy Nicol.
 

 
I sincerely hope there is a video camera trained on Robert Fitzpatrick’s fool face when he wakes up alive—and broke—next Sunday morning. From The New York Daily News:

Robert Fitzpatrick is so convinced the end is near he’s betting his life savings on it.

The retired MTA employee has pumped $140,000 into a NYC Transit ad campaign to warn everyone the world will end next Saturday.

“Global Earthquake! The Greatest Ever - Judgment Day: May 21,” the ad declares above a placid picture of night over Jerusalem with a clock that’s about to strike midnight.

“I’m trying to warn people about what’s coming,” the 60-year-old Staten Island resident said. “People who have an understanding [of end times] have an obligation to warn everyone.”

His doomsday warning has appeared on 1,000 placards on subway cars, at a cost of $90,000, and at bus shelters around the city, for $50,000 more. Fitzpatrick’s millenial mania began after he retired in 2006 and began listening to California evangelist Harold Camping’s “end of days” predictions.

Using head-spinning numerological calculations, Camping has determined that the world will end on Saturday, May 21. He’s used similar biblical math to pinpoint when Abraham was circumcised (2068 B.C.) and when earth was created (11,083 B.C.).

Camping has predicted the end of world once before - on Sept. 6, 1994. When the sun rose on Sept. 7, Camping admitted he might have had that one wrong.

Still, Fitzpatrick remains convinced the beginning of the end is coming next week.

“It’ll start just before midnight, Jerusalem time: It’ll be instantaneous and global,” he said. “There are too many scriptures talking about ‘sudden destruction.’”

While Jesus Christ returns to Earth and all non-believers burn in eternal hellfire, Fitzpatrick says he and all those in the know will be saved in the rapture.

Yeah, well… let’s see who’s laughing come Sunday when Robert realizes that he gave his retirement money back to the place he worked for his entire life! I hope he still thinks this was money well spent, but I sorta doubt it…

“My sister doesn’t believe it,” Fitzpatrick admits. “I’ve tried to tell her. But that’s pretty much the story with most people.”

That should have been your first fucking clue, Robert.

 
For those of you who know you’re going to be left behind, Ben Conner and Carl W. Franke have organized a post Rapture looting event on Facebook.

When everyone is gone and God’s not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we’re going to squat in.

Sinners can join here.

 
Perfect for Coachella or other outdoor rock festivals? Available in blue, red and yellow, the Volkswagon van tent by Fire Box sells for around $483.00.

VW Camper Van Tent

(via Kraftfuttermischwerk)

 
Here’s something that doesn’t turn up often, nearly 30 minutes of vintage live concert footage of renegade psychedelic folkies, The Holy Modal Rounders:

A live concert in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam in the Summer of 1972. Shot by Videoheads who also organized the concert. The Holy Modal Rounders appeared frequently wherever the Grateful Dead were appearing. Electronically colorized using the Marcel Dupouy colorizer accesory for the Movicolor Video Synthesizer.

Courtesy of the fine folks at Videoheads, the same Dutch outfit who recently posted that amazing live footage of Mick Farren and the Deviants from 1969 on YouTube
 

 
Below, the trailer for the 2007 documentary on the Holy Modal Rounders, Bound to Lose.
 

 
Just when you thought Gov. Scott Walker couldn’t get any worse, or do anything stupider than he already has, he doubles down on the dumb!

Walker is currently making moves which would ban hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples. What a creep!

What’s the point of this nonsense? From The Journal Sentinel:

Gov. Scott Walker believes a new law that gives gay couples hospital visitation rights violates the state constitution and has asked a judge to allow the state to stop defending it.

Democrats who controlled the Legislature in 2009 changed the law so that same-sex couples could sign up for domestic partnership registries with county clerks to secure some - but not all - of the rights afforded married couples.

Wisconsin Family Action sued last year in Dane County circuit court, arguing that the registries violated a 2006 amendment to the state constitution that bans gay marriage and any arrangement that is substantially similar.

This is shameful. That’s all it is.

I can’t fathom why Walker thinks this is good politics, either. Oh right, he’s a fucking idiot!
 

 
Via Daily Kos

 
The World Beard and Moustache Championship was held on Sunday, in Trondhejm, Norway. The American team (“Beard Team USA”) brought home a respectable total of six gold medals, in categories such as “Full Beard Styled Moustache,” “Hungarian Moustache” and “Imperial Moustache” (congratulations to Burke T Kenny, Bruce Roe and Giovanni Dominice respectively). The big shock of the tournament was the dethroning of the popular Jack Passion (above) by his fellow American Rooty Lundvahl in the “Full Beard Natural” category, a title Passion was defending after a win in Alaska last year.

While all this looks great on paper, it wasn’t enough for Beard Team USA to defeat arch rivals Germany, who took home gold medals in a total of seven categories. I know the Americans had a lot riding on it, but as a European I can let you in on a little something we have known for a long time - you can never beat Germany at facial hair. Sorry, but it’s their precision engineering. Their wins this year included yet another overall competition win for Elmar Weisser in the “Full Beard Freestyle” category. This guy is untouchable, and I would fear for any competitor going up against him (have you seen his Brandenburg Gate!?). This year he really outdid himself, managing to sculpt his beard into a forest scene. Featuring a reindeer:
 

 
Fans of such matters (me included - I have been known to sport a Dali from time to time) should check out the trailer for a new series currently in production from the Independent Film Channel called “Whisker Wars.” As the name would suggest it’s a reality TV program that follows the trials and tribulations of some of the members of Beard Team USA (including Jack Passion) as they talk about their facial hair, the problems it can cause them, their grooming regimes and their preparations as they enter into local championships. I know this is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I cannot wait to watch this:
 

Whoops! Wrong Rapture!
 
There’s a special Rapture-themed collection of “music videos” curated by Christian Nightmares that was posted today over at The Daily Swarm:

Welcome to Rapture Week 2011! As everyone knows by now, Saturday, May 21 is the beginning of the end of the world. That’s right, this weekend all the Born Again Christians will be whisked up into Heaven to be with Jesus, while the rest of us have five months to party it up before God finally destroys the world on October 21, 2011. It’s a fact. Harold Camping said so.

If you’re on the winning team, maybe you’ll share the joy expressed in the video below for ‘Love Like Lightning.’ If not, ‘Great Awakening’ should scare you straight into the Savior’s arms. The rest speak for themselves. Get watching—the end is near!

P.S…for those Left Behind, I’ll be throwing a bash at Benny Hinn’s abandoned mansion this Sunday—hookers, blow, you name it. See you there.

And for the rest of us who will FOR SURE be left behind, there’s a new Facebook group called “Post rapture looting” that seems like it might be kinda useful to join…

Here’s a sample of Christian Nightmares’ “Five Songs to get you Rapture Ready”:

“Love Like Lightning,” a midriff-baring Christian man in an “Aloha” t-shirt stars in this trippy, high-tech music video about God and the Rapture”